Utah sues federal government for control of millions of acres of land

SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah is suing the federal government for control of about 18.5 million acres of land.

The lawsuit seeks control of the unprivileged Bureau of Land Management, which covers about 34% of the state. Gov. Spencer Cox, Attorney General Sean Reyes, House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President J. Stuart Adams announced the lawsuit at a news conference at the Utah Capitol Tuesday morning.

Nearly 70 percent of Utah’s land is federally controlled, a fact that has vexed Utah’s political leaders across the state for generations. Only Nevada has more federally controlled land, at more than 80 percent.

The dispute appears to be designed specifically to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to answer the question: Can the federal government hold “unappropriated” lands indefinitely? It does not apply to national parks, national monuments, tribal or military lands, or lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service, which have designated uses.

It’s also a response to decisions on Capitol Hill that the BLM strongly disagrees with. The BLM recently closed trails in Grand County and has proposed “thousands of additional miles” of additional roads in Utah, legislative leaders say. The state also opposes management plans for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments and plans to cut Utah’s energy portfolio.

If Utah wins the dispute, Republican political leaders are pushing for the state to manage them for public uses, including recreation, wildlife habitat and conservation, energy production, livestock grazing and resource use. In 2017, the Legislature created what would become the Utah Department of Land Management — anticipating such a dispute.

Federal courts have not always agreed with the state over its challenges to U.S. government land policies. Last year, a federal judge in Salt Lake City dismissed the state’s challenge to President Biden’s decision to restore the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. The state is appealing that decision to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Arguments in the case are scheduled for next month.

Map provided by Governor Spencer Cox

That case, challenging the president’s application of the Antiquities Act, will likely also go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Stay tuned to fox13now.com and FOX 13 News for the latest on this breaking story.